August 22, 2005

ABC/Disney bows to CAIR pressure, fires talker Michael Graham

ABC Radio has fired talk show host Michael Graham because of comments he made on his show about Islam. Graham worked at 630 WMAL in Washington D.C. From his site:

On July 25th, the Council on American-Islamic Relations demanded that I be "punished" for my on-air statements regarding Islam and its tragic connections to terrorism. Three days later, 630 WMAL and ABC Radio suspended me without pay for comments deemed "hate radio" by CAIR.

CAIR immediately announced that my punishment was insufficient and demanded I be fired. ABC Radio and 630 WMAL have now complied. I have been fired for making the specific comments CAIR deemed "offensive," and for refusing to retract those statements in a management-mandated, on-air apology. ABC Radio further demanded that I agree to perform what they described as "additional outreach efforts" to those people or groups who felt offended.

I refused. And for that refusal, I have been fired.

It appears that ABC Radio has caved to an organization that condemns talk radio hosts like me, but has never condemned Hamas, Hezbollah, and one that wouldn't specifically condemn Al Qaeda for three months after 9/11...

This had been supposedly over; in fact on August 2 Graham asked his listeners to stop complaining about the suspension. I don't know exactly what upset CAIR, but you can read more about his thoughts on Islam here.

You may remember Graham from when he attended an Open Borders rally and was allegedly jumped by not just peace-loving lefties but the cops as well.

Posted to Terrorism at August 22, 2005 02:02 PM

Comments

ABC should be investigated as a RICO for its connections to terrorists. If they are going to do the bidding of terrorist organizations, and be a propaganda outlet for them, publicizing their causes in order to get some chance at a photo opportunity of the grisly kind, shouldn't the people make them pay for this?

Posted by: John S Bolton at August 23, 2005 03:27 AM

This isn't the first time this chump has been reprimanded for insensitive language and comments. In 1999, Graham was fired from a Charlotte station for saying that the killing of athletes was a "minor benefit" of the Columbine shootings.

Graham said "Islam is a terrorist organization" 23 times on his July 25 program. On the same show, he also said repeatedly that "moderate Muslims are those who only want to kill Jews" and that "the problem is not extremism. The problem is Islam."

Posted by: aa at August 23, 2005 05:25 AM